Margaret Molesworth

Maud Margaret 'Mall' Molesworth BEM (née Mutch; 18 October 1894 – 9 July 1985) was a tennis player from Queensland, Australia who won the inaugural Australasian Championships women's singles title in 1922 and successfully defended her title in 1923.

Margaret Molesworth
Margaret Molesworth, c.1941
Full nameMaud Margaret Mutch Molesworth
Country (sports) Australia
Born(1894-10-18)18 October 1894
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died9 July 1985(1985-07-09) (aged 90)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Singles
Highest rankingNo. 10 (1922)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (1922, 1923)
French Open3R (1934)
Wimbledon1R (1934)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1930, 1933, 1934)
Wimbledon3R (1934)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenF (1923)

Tennis career

She won her first major tennis title in 1914 – the Queensland ladies doubles. For much of the next five years, sporting contests in Australia were cancelled due to World War I.

Maude Margaret Molesworth and Dorothy Round, 1934

Molesworth won tennis championships in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania beginning in 1919. At the first Australian Championships in 1922, Molesworth defeated fellow Australian Esna Boyd Robertson 6–3, 10–8 in the final. A year later, she successfully defended her title, again defeating Robertson in the final.

Molesworth was unable to compete overseas until 1934 when, at age 40, she reached the last sixteen of the French Championships. At the 1934 Wimbledon Championships she lost in the first round of the singles event to Madzy Rollin Couquerque and reached the third round of the doubles with Joan Hartigan.[1]

In doubles, Molesworth won three women's titles at the Australian Championships with Emily Hood Westacott, in 1930, 1933, and 1934. She was also runner-up in women's and mixed doubles at the Australian Championships in 1923.

Molesworth was the first Australian woman tennis player to be listed in the world's top ten rankings. A. Wallis Myers of the Daily Telegraph rated her No. 10 in 1922 and 1923.[2]

In 1924, mainly for health reasons, Molesworth retired from the sport. She came back a few years later, always considered a threat in Australian tournaments. In 1934, she reached the Australian singles final once more. Later that year, she competed overseas for the first time, playing at Wimbledon and the French Championships.

Retirement

After her retirement from competitive play, Molesworth became one of the first female professional coaches in Australia. Until her death in 1985, she maintained a lifelong interest in the sport of tennis.[3]

In the 1972 Queen's Birthday Honours Molesworth received the British Empire Medal (BEM) for "service to the community of Ku-ring-gai, New South Wales.[4]

Personal

On 19 June 1918, in Brisbane, Molesworth married Bevil Hugh Molesworth (1891–1971), an educator and radio broadcaster.[5]

Molesworth died at her home in Lindfield on 9 July 1985.[6] Her only son, Hugh (born 1925), predeceased her in 1960.[7] On 25 January 2022 Maude Margaret Molesworth and Joan Hartigan were inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame at a special ceremony at Rod Laver Arena.[8]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Win1922Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Esna Boyd Robertson6–3, 10–8
Win1923Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Esna Boyd Robertson6–1, 7–5
Loss1934Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Joan Hartigan1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 4 (4 titles)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1923Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Beryl TurnerAustralia Esna Boyd Robertson
Australia Sylvia Lance Harper
1–6, 4–6
Win1930Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Emily Hood WestacottAustralia Marjorie Cox Crawford
Australia Sylvia Lance Harper
6–3, 0–6, 7–5
Win1933Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Emily Hood WestacottAustralia Joan Hartigan
United States Marjorie Gladman
6–3, 6–2
Win1934Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Emily Hood WestacottAustralia Joan Hartigan
Australia Ula Valkenburg
6–8, 6–4, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1923Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Bert St. JohnAustralia Sylvia Lance Harper
Australia Horace Rice
6–2, 4–6, 4–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament19221923192419251926192719281929193019311932193319341935Career SR
Australian Championships W W QF A A A QF QF QF 1R A QF F 2R 2 / 10
French Championships1 A A NH A A A A A A A A A 3R A 0 / 1
Wimbledon A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A 0 / 1
US Championships A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
SR 1 / 1 1 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 3 0 / 1 2 / 12

1Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from the 1922 and 1923 editions of that tournament are shown here. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

See also

References

  1. "Wimbledon players archive – Maud Molesworth". AELTC.
  2. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701. ISBN 978-0-942257-41-0.
  3. "Tennis Coaches Australia :: History". 30 August 2007. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  4. "Maud Margaret Molesworth". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  5. Consandine, Marion, "Molesworth, Bevil Hugh (1891–1971)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 March 2019
  6. Molesworth, Hartigan to be inducted into Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
  7. Cryle, Mark, "Molesworth, Maud Margaret (Mall) (1894–1985)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 March 2019
  8. Molesworth, Hartigan to be inducted into Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
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